On Wednesday, I went to the Bobby Bones Show Christmas Party at the Austin Music Hall. To be completely honest with you, I’ve never really listened to Bobby Bones all that much, and I didn’t like three of the four acts that were going to be there (I secretly like Iyaz, but would have been happier had he played his one song and left). But. The last act. The headliner? Was The Fray. I like The Fray. A lot.
I rode up with some friends, and when we got there, the line was incredibly long. We had to go to the end. It was could outside and it didn’t look like we were going to get anywhere near the stage…which would have been unfortunate for James and I since we’re both pretty short. To my extreme pleasure (In my head I jumped in the air and did a fist pump. You can’t actually do those kinds of things though. People will look at you funny) this guy is coming down the line with a very important announcement:
Over 21 with an I.D. can get in through the bar
I don’t think that man knew how much he made my day. James, Rachel, and I took off. Along the way, we grabbed Lance, and left Laine and his lady friend in the long cold line. Most of the other “over 21 with i.d.” crowd were with children, so we were pretty much guaranteed a great spot. We get in, and when they finally let us into the performance area, Rachel makes a mad dash for the front. There is only one person between us and the security bar in front of the stage. I might get sweated on by The Fray. My life will be complete.
Enter: my dear friend Jenna Coe. (I have given Jenna a hard time about this all week, I’m really not upset about it at all. I just know she can’t stand to have someone upset with her, and it’s fun to watch her think you are…) Jenna had left after us, and I had to run out and get her ticket to her. As we headed back in and tried to make our way back to the front, it became abundantly clear that it was not going to happen. I immediately went into upset mode, and Jenna went into feel bad mode. We ended up in the balcony barely able to see any of the acts.
Like I said earlier, I was really only there to see The Fray so I wasn’t really that upset about not seeing the other performers, but all I could think about was that I wasn’t going to have a good view of The Fray, and the whole night would have been a waste of 30 bucks for me. As the night went on, I started to not feel very great and ended up being grateful for the opportunity to sit down in the balcony area while I waited for The Fray to go on. When Owl City finished, a lot of people left. As The Fray began their set, more people left. Less than halfway through, I had a clear line of vision to them, and they were playing a great show.
I had expected to be close enough to read what their shirts said, and have my hearing impaired for a few hours and I didn’t get that. I did get to watch them perform a great show, hear some of my favorite songs by them, and spend time having fun with a good friend. My initial expectations were not met. They weren’t even necessarily exceeded. The plan changed and I ended up having a great time anyway. My initial reaction of being upset was ridiculous, and I felt pretty bad about it.
Often, my expectations of my Jesus are not met. The thing is though, it’s usually because I don’t expect enough, or have the right expectations.
I remember after becoming a Christian in 2004 I had this idea that now everything was going to be okay all the time. For a while it was. I was riding that initial wave of eternal joy that I imagine comes with most salvation experiences. I was learning and growing, colors seemed brighter, food tasted better, (Is that a little over the top? Maybe, but I think you get the point) everything seemed to be going great. Then, I kind of made it to a plateau. I had reached this point where I knew a lot, and I was serving a lot, but I’d already strayed from the point. I’d kind of forgotten the reason I was doing any of it.
Things started to look like they had before I’d met this Jesus guy. I found myself wondering how my homeboy (I’d lost some reverence…) could let things get so bad for me. I found myself thinking, “I thought being a Christian meant it was all going to be better now! No more fights, no more depression, no more homework (right?)”.
I sought advice from peers and mentors, and I heard a lot of the same thing. “Things are good and bad in different seasons” (“Seasons” is one of my favorite Christian things to talk about). And it didn’t mean anything to me. I was upset, and I felt like I’d been bamboozled, given the bait-and-switch, taken for a ride. I figured if things weren’t great, then I probably wasn’t really saved.
It’s a problem that the entire church has I think. We’re really good at telling people that everything is going to be better, and ok, and we’ll probably have no problems now that we have Jesus (Which is mostly a lie…). But I think that we (I know I do this) fail to make sure people really grasp that being a follower of Christ doesn’t mean life is going to be a bed of roses. He can help us get through a lot, and living the Biblical lifestyle that God has called us to will dramatically change our lives for the better in so many ways. But, we’re still going to go through relationship, work, money, and a host of other problems.
We market that everything will be peachy, and it’s not. In fact, in deciding to follow Christ, we’ve just loaded a whole new set of problems onto our backs. Christ tells us that the wold hated Him, and they’re going to hate us too. So now, we have the possibility of losing a friendship/relationship, facing problems at work, trying to stretch an already tight budget to give as we’re called, etc. None of that sounds easier than a life without Christ.
We have a marketing problem. Things aren’t always going to be great. We will experience some incredible joy with Christ in our lives. When we’re being obedient to Him, we may be blessed with financial, career, family/friend prosperity. But we may also go through the ringer. We may lose a job, a loved one will die at some point, John the Baptizer questioned his faith. You will too. And it’s all ok, because I half lied earlier. Jesus is going to make everything ok. In the end. It’s a fixed fight boys and girls. We know the end, and that is where our hope ought to be. Not that today should have no problems because I have Jesus. But that today may suck, and that’s ok, because I’ve got Jesus and in the end He wins and we spend eternity together.
“It’s a fixed fight.” -Rev. Brother Bell
